Not really ... what you are saying is that you are super paranoid of oil filter defects and failures. Its' not rocket science to mitigate that fear. Go buy a known good brand filter with backed media. If you are also concerned about the filter efficiency, then that puts another factor on the end solution.
Well, I prefer to think of myself as reasonably cautious rather than super-paranoid!
My fear is that FB filters might be at the beginning stage of quality issues that is exactly like what happened to Purolator.
In the case of Purolator, it seems that the failures occurred according to Hemingway's bankruptcy-- "slowly, then suddenly!" Is this thread evidence of that dynamic with FB filters? I don't want to risk my engines on that possibility!
It's not common ... like I said, I've probably seen 1000s of filter C&Ps here over the last 14 years and this is the first one like this I've seen. If this same failure keeps popping up on a regular basis, then it's something to get worried over.
I know what you're saying (and generally agree), but "common" is a very difficult term for anyone to define or even fully understand.
Some freak manufacturing defect seems to have made you super paranoid and worried about every oil filter in the world.
The one in this thread certainly has gotten my attention, and I'm dubious as to how "freak" it was. Could it be that it's "slowly" now, but will be "suddenly" in the near future? Maybe so, maybe no. But I have a bad feeling about it.
I hope I'm wrong as I actually like Fram. Filter of my youth!
If you think every oil filter coming of the assembly line might have a manufacturing defect, then I can't really help you.
That would be totally unreasonable for anyone to think-- I certainly don't think that.
Go buy a brand that shows the least issues here, there are many.
This is
exactly what I want to do! All I need is someone to tell me exactly which brand that is!
And the key is to tell me not only which brand is showing the least issues here, but, importantly, which has the corporate stability that would give one confidence that they will continue to have that same reliability in the future.
If you don't want one to possibly tear in service, then don't go Purolators (unless you want the lower efficiency Boss line with nylon mesh backed media) as there was one just recently made that showed a tear in the media in a new thread posted here.
Yes-- I agree. I want to like Purolator so bad and have bought them recently. I can get them cheap and conveniently at Menards. But, as you said, the wire-backed Boss' don't have high efficiency, and there doesn't seem to be a high amount of confidence in the lower end ones (that do filter well).
Believe me, I follow all of
@fantastic 's posts hoping he will build my confidence in Purolator!
I want to believe!
You're going to have to work on the paranoia or you'll never come to some logial solution.
Ahem... that should be "reasonably cautious," not "paranoid."
The oil filter world is always dynamic, and one needs to constantly be monitoring it to see what's happening. Yes, all brands of oil filters have had thier issues over time.
Yes, unfortunately that's what I've come to learn here in the past couple of months.
All you can do is watch the dynamic world of oil filters and make decisions based on what's happening in a near current aspect. Many members here have jumped from one filter brand/modles to another based on what's going on with oil filters. I went from Toyota to Purolator to Fram Ultra to now Mircogard Select based on the never ending dynamics in the oil filter world. If I was a TG user, I would not be concened about the freak manufacturing defect seen on this subject filter, but that's me.
That's exactly what I plan to do-- I'll jump to any filter based on low cost and reasonable reputation for my 5K FCI's. Right now, the Ecogard Standard seems to fit that bill, and I just bought a few. I'll switch in a heartbeat if problems arise with those.
Reading and participating in this forum for 14 years would give anyone more insight than someone who didn't participate that much.
True, but I'm a quick study, and have been working hard on this!
Here's a suggestion, go get a Microgard Select at O'Reilly's. After all my research seem to be a very well built and high quality filter (with 99% @ 25u efficiency) that looks pristine after use in every C&P done here. So much that I decided to buy one last week for my car.
That's pretty much what I've done, but with Ecogard instead of Microgard. Ecogard standard has 96% at 20um (per Belavita's awesome spreadsheet) and is regularly on sale at Walmart.com for well under $3 a piece. I would use the Microgard Selects, but they're much more expensive.
Also, aren't the Selects made by Wix? I think they used to be. Another thing I'll need to look up-- ugh-- hard to keep up with all of the changes!
You're worried about quality and in-service failures and you're going to buy the cheapest filter you can? Hummn, seems counter productive to the end solution of your worries.
Remember, it's cheapest,
but with a decent reputation. The C&P's of the Ecogards have looked great.
I really appreciate your engagement with me. I've learned a lot from your posts on BITOG as I've been studying them like crazy over the past couple of months as I try to determine my vehicle maintenance schedules now that I've retired.
I actually have a Word document where I store various tidbits of information from your (and a few others') posts for easy reference, so I generally know what you think about most things related to filters.
Love the debates between you and dnewton3 on the practical importance of high-efficiency filtering!